Robin Westman, a transgender male, was identified as the Minneapolis Annunciation Catholic School shooting suspect who killed two students and injured 17, including 14 as they prayed [VIDEO]

Robin Westman, a transgender male, was identified as the shooter at Minneapolis Annunciation Catholic School who killed two young children and injured 17, including 14 children, as they prayed during a return-to-school mass in Minneapolis. The shooter had no past criminal background.

Two children were killed when a gunman opened fire on a Catholic church in Minneapolis during the parish school's start-of-year mass on Wednesday morning at 8.15 a.m. Another 14 children were hurt, along with three adults.

The slain children, aged eight and 10, were shot dead as they sat in ‘packed’ pews during morning service at Annunciation Catholic Church.

Minneapolis Annunciation Catholic School shooting suspect id as transgender

The shooter, who has since been identified as Robin Westman, 23, a biological male transgender living as a woman (formerly known as Robert), was dressed in all black and armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol, fired a barrage of bullets through the church's stained glass windows as congregants, mostly children, prayed after the gunman barricaded the doors, preventing them from escaping, according to police.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara reported that 17 people, including 14 children, were hurt in the 'deliberate act of violence'.

According to O'Hara, the 'coward who fired these shots ultimately took his own life in the rear of the chapel'.

Of the 17 injured, two children were in critical condition, O’Hara said during a 11 a.m press conference.

The shooting happened during a celebratory Mass marking a return to classes after a summer break, with the gunman firing through a window of the Catholic church. The shooter fired dozens of rounds from outside the church and shot from all three weapons, O’Hara told reporters.

Police are investigating whether a 20-minute YouTube video shared on an account hours before the shooting was connected to Westman.

In the video, a hand slowly turns the pages of a red notebook, which is laid out on top of what appears to be schematic gun diagrams.

Each page is filled with inscrutable handwritten scrawl, an occasional plume of smoke is seen from the bottom of the screen as the person turning the pages coughs and occasionally maniacally giggles.

Other videos show an obsession with mass shooters — including Sandy Hook killer Adam Lanza.

Videos posted to YouTube show multiple weapons — including a semi-automatic rifle and a shotgun. Magazines were scrawled with ‘for the children’ and ‘kill Donald Trump.’ (see above video and below).

Catholic school shooter identified as trans as a minor with parents soon signing off with change

A since-deleted YouTube account under the username ‘robinw’ posted numerous videos in the hours leading up to the shooting. In one video, the user showed off weaponry and gear that had writings on it, including the phrases ‘where is your god?,’ ‘kill Donald Trump,’ and ‘I’m the Woker, baby, Why so serious?’ Other phrases included ‘burn Israel’ and ‘6 million was not enough.’

In the same video, the user showed a target that had Jesus on it with ‘he came to pay a debt He didn’t owe because we owe a debt we cannot pay’ typed out underneath Jesus.

 

 

Police said the shooter had no known criminal history and his motive remains under investigation. Authorities had yet to release their name. Police said the gunman was unknown to them.

The suspect’s vehicle, which he parked inside the church lot, is being searched by authorities. A smoke bomb ‘firework’ was found on premises, O’Hara added.

Law enforcement sources said Westman grew up in Richfield and that her mother was an employee at Annunciation School, KARE11 reported.

According to court records, Robin Westman’s mother applied to change her child’s name in 2019 from Robert Paul Westman to Robin M. Westman in Dakota County, because she identified as a female. Because Westman was a minor at the time, her mother had to sign off on the change. According to the application, Westman ‘identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.’

Annunciation Catholic Church shooting a deliberate act of violence

The gunman opened fire into the windows Annunciation Catholic Church on 54th Street around 8:15am local time. 

Students and staff at Annunciation Catholic School, where classes just started on Monday, were attending mass at the time of the shooting according to  The Minnesota Star Tribune. ‘

The shooter allegedly barricaded the doors with ‘two by fours’ to prevent people from being able to escape.

‘During the mass, the gunman approached on the outside, on the side of the building, and began firing a rifle through the church windows towards the children sitting in the pews at the mass,’ O’Hara said.

‘Shooting through the windows, he struck children and worshipers that were inside the building.’

The chief added: ‘This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshiping.’ 

Police say no casings were found inside the church, meaning ‘most – if not all – shooting happened outside building’.

Preliminary reports told of the gunman firing off 50-100 shots at students and staff.

Dozens of children were evacuated from the church, seen crying and covered in blood as they were shuffled out.

Authorities have yet to say what led up to the mass shooting.